50+ Captivating Flyer Examples, Templates and Design Tips

Flyers are one of the oldest advertising tools in the book. Most people are probably so used to receiving flyers that they don’t even think twice about reaching into their mail boxes and pulling out a handful of flyers.

That’s why a lot of people are asking: is it still worth it to run flyers in 2018?

The answer that many business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers (including me) have come up with is: yes, but they need to be good flyers.

In fact, designing and distributing eye-catching flyers is just one of many effective offline marketing strategies that work today.

A well thought out, well-designed flyer should be:

Eye-catching–enough to make people stop and take interest in reading it.

Business Flyer Examples

Get the word out there about your business with an eye-catching business flyer.

1. Include a call to action that allows you to track the ROI of your flyer

To ensure that distributing a flyer is worth your time, you will probably want to track the ROI of your flyers. Include a clear CTA (call-to-action) that not only prompts people to want to check out your business, but that will also enable you to track how many customers you pulled in with your flyer.

For example, you could include a redemption code, or have your flyer double as a coupon. Check out this business flyer example that tells recipients at the bottom that they can redeem a free drink:

2. Use unique imagery

An unusual image (whether it’s a photo or an illustration) helps draw attention and encourages people to take a closer look at your flyer. Try putting a unique spin on your product or blending it with other setting, objects, or people relevant to your business.

For instance, this holiday-themed flyer for a vinyl record shop features a creative take on their products, arranging pieces of records to look like a festive Christmas tree:

3. Use quirky product illustrations that reflect your brand’s character

For a lot of people, your flyer will their first introduction to your business. That’s why, if you want to appeal to your target audience, you should try to incorporate your business’ personality into your flyer design.

4. Use icons to represent different services or products

Icons–those simple vector graphics that you see everywhere–are handy for packing meaning into a small page. Because they’re simple and recognizable, you can use icons to reinforce (and sometimes even replace) text in your flyer design.

For example, this poster uses icons with recognizable meanings to represent different service options:

5. Use icons to represent different plan options and pricing packages

Like in the last flyer example, you can also use icons to represent different options offered by your business. Look for a simple icon that illustrates your option, and differentiate the options by using different colored background.

For an example of what I mean, look at how this travel flyer uses action icons on different colored circle backgrounds to represent different activities offered:

6. Use two to three different fonts to give your flyer design variety

The fonts you choose can make or break your flyer design. Not only does font selection determine how easily your flyer is to read, it also plays an essential role in the look of your flyer.

Combining two or three different fonts can give your flyer some real flare. Try pairing a bold, decorative title font with a more paired down body font. Or, combine two styles of fonts, like in this flyer example:

7. Use semi-transparent shapes to make text pop out from the background

If your flyer has a busy background image, it can be easy for text to get lost in it. This is an opportunity to introduce some functional design elements to your flyer.

Try overlaying shapes over your background image and adjusting the transparency so some of the background still peaks through. That way, your text will be able to pop without the background image being obscured.

Take a look at how this flyer template overlays bright blue semi-transparent shapes over a greyscale background image for a cool, modern design:

8. Use icons as bullet points

If you want to include a list in your business flyer design (for example, to list services you offer), then you can add a creative spin by using icons instead of bullet points. Pick icons that visualize each point, by showing an action, illustrating an item or visualizing a concept.

This business flyer example uses icons to denote and illustrate the services that this entrepreneur offers:

9. Add different colored shapes for a funky design

Do you want to convey how fun and creative your business is? Then try using different shapes and designs to embellish your design. This could mean augmenting parts of a photograph with shape icons, or creating a border around your poster.

For example, take a look at how this flyer for a dance class uses shapes to add a creative spin to the photo of a person dancing:

Source: http://stpaulsjh.net

10. Include a QR code to encourage readers to take action

You can use a QR code as a CTA to encourage readers to find out more about your business, to get exclusive offers, or even to enter a contest. They’re easy to work seamlessly into your flyer design – just make sure to include a short description in case the QR code doesn’t work.

Look at how this flyer example includes a QR code in the left column to encourage readers to check out the company’s website:

11. Use your brand colors for cohesive branding

One of the easiest ways to recognize a brand is through their brand colors. Incorporating your brand colors into your flyer design will help keep your branding cohesive across all platform, digital and print.

You can either design your entire flyer in your brand colors, or you can use them as accent colors. For example, you could use your brand colors in your flyer header, in the icons you use, or in the CTAs.

12. Create a custom illustration using icons

Illustrations can make a flyer design feel inviting. But creating an illustration in a pinch and within a budget can be tough–unless you do it yourself using icons.

Think of a scene that illustrates what your business does. Then, arrange icons on your flyer like you would arrange stickers.

Take a look at how this cleaning business flyer uses an illustration of someone cleaning to add personality to the design:

Product Flyer Examples

Announce a new product and highlight its features with a product flyer.

1. Divide your flyer design into different colored sections

To keep readers engaged, it helps to add surprising elements to your flyer design. You can do this by dividing your flyer into different sections with color block backgrounds, or by applying different color filters to sections of your flyer.

Here’s a hack for an unusual and modern design: take a product image and divide it in half, using a different colored filter for half. Take a look at how this Muji product flyer does it:

2. Use a circular layout for your product flyer

Flyer design is an opportunity to play around with unconventional layouts. That means you don’t have to stick to the classic left-to-right layout.

For example, you could position your product in the center of your flyer and circle product details around it. Take a look at how this product flyer example does it:

3. Use a picture of your product as the background image for your flyer

Consumers like to know what they’re getting. That’s why it’s a good idea to include a big picture of your product–or even use it as the background image for your flyer.

Just make sure that the text stand out against the background. Using bold, blocky text can help. You could also overlay your image with a transparent color filter.

For example, look at how this product flyer for juice uses a picture of limes, the primary ingredient, as the background image. This reinforces the idea of the juice being fresh and full of whole ingredients:

7. Use a simple grid layout to showcase multiple products

Sometimes, the simplest option is the best option. That can certainly be the case when deciding how to design a product flyer.

If you have multiple products you want to showcase–like a new product line or seasonal products–then a simple grid layout is a good way to approach your flyer design. That way, your products will be organized and easy to skim:

8. Compare your product to a competitor or to an older model

What makes your product a better choice than its competitor? Showcase that in your product flyer.

Divide your flyer into two columns, one for your product and one for a competitor’s (or an older model of your product). Place the features you’re comparing down the middle, so your audience can easily see the benefits of your product.

Take a look at how this product flyer template uses icons to visualize the features that it’s comparing:

9. Design a header that makes people stop in their tracks

Don’t underestimate the power of a bold header. After all, it’s probably the first thing that someone scrolling through social media is likely to see–and it’s a great opportunity to do something outside of the box.

Your flyer header is an opportunity to use a decorative font, creative visuals, and a dramatic color scheme. For example, look at how decadent the header is for this Haagen-Dazs flyer:

2. Use two complementary colors as your event flyer’s color scheme

Green and red. Yellow and purple. Blue and orange. These pairs are known as complementary colors because they go well together. That’s why, if you’re not sure which colors to pick for your event flyer design, complementary colors are a good place to start.

For example, how pleasing to look at is this event flyer:

3. Fancy-fy you event flyer design with classic design effects

Is your event going to be a celebration of glitz and glam? Don’t be afraid to bring out the glitter in your event flyer. Pick a color scheme that reflects all fo the silver and gold guests can expect.

Take a look at how shamelessly fancy this event flyer is. Key words are given an extra bit of glitter to emphasize the theme:

5. Emphasize and time and place of your event

While an attention-grabbing design will attract eyes, don’t forget the primary purpose of your event flyer: to get people to attend your event. Make sure that the event details like location, time and ticketing is easy to read.

For example, this event flyer template uses a bright blue box to make the event details stand out:

6. Come up with a thematic concept for your event flyer

Before diving into your flyer design, it’s helpful to plan out a concept for your design.

What sort of scene do you want to set? What kinds of visuals are you going to use–icons or a more cartoon-like design? Photos from previous events to show people what they can expect? Something more traditional, or something a bit more abstract?

For example, this event flyer uses speech bubbles to visualize the “social” aspect of the event:

7. Incorporate a few photos for a collage-like flyer design

Here’s a fun design hack: incorporate one or two realistic photos in an otherwise illustrated or flat design to give your flyer the appearance of a collage. This quirky design style is great for flyers advertising events like parties, art shows and flea markets.

Look at how realistic flowers add a DIY touch to this birthday party event flyer:

8. Incorporate your logo into your flyer design

Flyers aren’t just a way to spread the word about your event–they’re also a way to spread awareness about your brand. Don’t forget to include your logo into your flyer!

You could simply include your logo at the top or bottom of your flyer. But you could also find a creative way to incorporate it into your flyer design. For example, look at how this brand put their logo into the cup of coffee:

9. Divide your flyer into sections using boxes

A simple way to organize the information on your flyer is to divide each section into its own box. For example, you could have one box for the title, one box for the event details, and a box with a description of the event.

Take a look at how this event flyer uses boxes to organize the information:

10. Make your event flyer double as a ticket

Are you planning on handing out physical flyers? If you want your event to be exclusive, you could make your flyers the ticket to enter. Just make sure you state that clearly on the flyer!

If you want to take it a step further, you can even make your flyer look like a ticket, like in this example:

12. Include contact information in case attendees have questions

You only have so much space on an event flyer for information. That’s why it can be a good idea to include contact information where people can go to get more information on things like accessibility and attendance requirements.

All you have to do is put a simple label and contact information in the bottom corner of your flyer, like in this template:

13. Include the price of entry for your event

Let people know how much they’ll have to shell out for your event directly on the flyer. If your event is a bargain, you can emphasize the price in the middle of your flyer. If it’s a little pricier, you may want to include some selling points beside the price.

For example, this event flyer uses an arrow to point readers to the exciting things included in the ticket price:

14. List special guests who are you going to be at your event

Are you going to have some notable guests at your event? Then make that one of the main features you include in your promotional flyer. You may even want to feature the photo of a keynote speaker as the focal visual.

If you don’t want to include any actual photos of your special guests, then you could opt to simply list their name along the top or side of your flyer, like in this example:

15. Leave negative space so your flyer design doesn’t look cluttered

Negative space is the empty space between elements on the page.

When you try to pack too many visuals into one page, it’s easy for your design to become cluttered and hard to read. But if you let your text and visuals breathe with plenty of negative space, it will be much easier for people to read and understand the information.

Take a look at how the use of negative space in this event flyer makes for a sleek, efficient design:

Sales Flyer Examples

1. Emphasize the numbers on your sales flyer

Most people are going to look for one thing on a sales flyer: how much of a discount are they getting. Make their savings impossible to miss by using big fonts in contrasting colors.

For example, this sales flyer example puts the savings (35% off) right in the header in orange, a very bright and hard to miss color. Orange is also used in the body of the flyer to show individual products on sale:

2. Make your sale flyer a GIF to attract attention

People and animals aren’t so different. We all like shiny, moving objects. If you want to grab your audience’s attention, make your flyer a GIF.

You can do this by making certain elements of the design move, like the words, icons, or background. Society6 opted for a psychedelic moving background in this Black Friday sale flyer:

3. Pick colors that convey the mood of your sales event

Are you having a fun spring sale? A festive holiday sale? An exciting flash sale?

The colors you choose for your flyer should appeal to the emotions of your audience. What do you want your audience to feel when they look at your flyer?

For example, if you want your sales flyer to have an intense mood (for products like sportswear), use dark colors with a few bright accents:

4. Make your discount the focal point of your sales flyer design

Are you offering your loyal customers an amazing discount? You can plan your flyer design so that the discount is the focal point.

This is an opportunity to use a big, attention-grabbing font. You could even mix and match a few fonts, using a more out-there font for the discount number, and a less conspicuous font for the descriptive text.

Take a look at how this sales flyer for the Gap uses a giant font and a contrasting shadow to make the discount the focus of the design:

5. Use decorative fonts as the main design feature of your sales flyer

Using one to three decorative fonts with a solid background can make for a classy, elegant flyer design. The key is to pick fonts that complement each other. You may want to pick fonts of three different styles (thin, thick, abstract) or stick to three similar fonts.

For example, this sales flyer example combines four very different fonts, but they manage to complement each other nicely:

6. Create an asymmetrical layout for an edgy sales flyer design

To grab your audience’s attention, it’s a good idea to look for ways to make your flyer design original. While many businesses opt for a simple grid layout because it’s efficient, you can set your business apart by using an asymmetrical layout.

Take a look at how this clothes flyer uses a slanted angle for the product photos in one corner of the flyer. The photos are balanced out by the text in the opposite corner. Balance is the key to an aesthetically pleasing design:

7. Optimize your sales flyer for social media

If you’re planning on sharing your sales flyer on social media, then it’s a good idea to optimize your flyers accordingly. That means using the best image dimensions for whatever social media platform you’re posting on, and making sure your flyer is easy to read on mobile.

Generally, a 1080 x 1080 flyer is a safe bet for most social media platforms. Refrain from using too much text, as it will be more difficult for people to read on mobile.

You can use a sales flyer to attract our audience’s attention, and then link to your site for more info. Take a look at this simple but eye-catching social media sales flyer:

9. Use light, warm colors for a summer-themed sales flyer

A lot of people look forward to the end of summer for great sales, as stores overhaul their products for the winter. Help your audience stay in the sunny, optimistic summer mood with a cheery sales flyer.

Use bright, warm colors like yellow, pink, orange and red. Take a look at how this sales flyer example combines sunny text with a purple accent outline:

10. Pick visuals for your sales flyer that reflect the season

Are you having a Christmas sale? An easter sale? A Halloween sale?

Help get your audience into the spirit of the season by incorporating seasonal icons, background images, and color schemes. It’s ok to go a little overboard when it comes to seasonal flyers–that’s part of the fun!

For example, there’s no missing what season this sales flyer is for:

11. Look for creative ways to surprise customers with your design

Part of exciting your audience is surprising them–not just with your amazing deals, but also with your creative branding. Look for ways to add a bit of magic to your sales flyer design.

For example, this sales flyer not only replaces some of the letters in the text with tennis balls…it’s also a GIF! A flyer like this reflects the fun personality of their brand:

12. Create an email header sales flyer

Do you want your sales announcement to be the first thing people see when they open your promo email? Then create an eye-catching email header.

Generally, an image with a 3:1 ratio works well for email headers. Because there is smaller space, it’s best to not cram too much text into a header. For example, take a look at this simple but festive holiday sale email header:

13. Use visuals that reflect the theme of your sale

Have you taken the time to come up with a clever name for your sale? Do it justice by creating a clever flyer!

Think about how you can use color and visuals like photos and icons to reflect the theme of your sale.

For example, this sales flyer reflects the “pop-up” sale theme by pairing a bubblegum pink background with an image of a fluffy ball of cotton candy. Pop sugary perfection:

Sara McGuire is a Content Editor at Venngage. When she isn't writing research-driven content, she enjoys reviewing music and hitting up the latest culinary hot spot in her home city of Toronto. Follow her on Twitter @sara_mcguire